Chapter 14 : Out of the frying pan!

Once more Harry ran as though his life depended on his ability to evade his pursuers, though at that precise moment there was no one running after him. The Death Eater or whoever it was wearing Sam's face, did not follow Harry from the dockside. Too unwilling to be spotted by muggles perhaps but they certainly seemed unwilling to attract attention to themselves.

His route away from the "greasy spoon" roadside café took him towards the huge lorry park; the entrance was via a barrier and a tired-looking guard was checking papers of incoming vehicles. Harry tried to take advantage of the guard's inattention and slip unobserved into the maze-like rows of heavy goods vehicles; unfortunately the guard was not alone and his companion quickly sounded the alert.

Whistles sounded and alarms rang! Harry did the only logical thing – he panicked!

Running further into the lorry park Harry desperately sought somewhere he could hide until the hue-and-cry died down. Back in Junior School Harry had become accustomed to finding suitable places to hide from his brutish cousin and his gang and once again Harry decided to find a hidey-hole. His slight build and excellent reactions enabled Harry to dive, hopefully unobserved, under one of the huge lorries. Making his way away from the sound of running footsteps Harry thought he was safe – for the moment!

But no – his luck was running out! The unmistakable sound of guard dogs barking brought a fresh wave of panic. Harry stood up and made for the fence at the back of the lorry park but he realised that he was not alone in running from the guards!

About a dozen scruffy bedraggled men in their early twenties were also running and in Harry's direction. Bright searchlights flooded the lorry park. Harry found himself leading the pack of men; he ducked once more under a lorry hoping to hide in the dense shadows but they all copied him. Emerging the other side and still bent double Harry turned intending to run towards the far fence but as he straightened up and started to run….

WHAM!

Harry was knocked into the air and he fell in a heap on the tarmac. He rolled onto his back and screamed in agony. His world turned black and Harry knew no more.

………

It hurt!

Harry held his breath against the white-hot pain in his side. His eyes still tightly closed shut. He could hear a faint beep, beep sound in the distance but the sound was suddenly drowned out by a siren. Wherever he was he was being rocked about and Harry didn't like it! Every movement caused the pain to get worse. He tried to move his head and couldn't. He was strapped down, immobile. He felt the left sleeve of his sweatshirt pushed up his arm and something tied tight above his elbow. The next thing Harry felt was something cold on his skin followed by a sharp pain on the inside of his left forearm.

Mercifully at that point, consciousness left him completely and Harry returned to darkness.

………

Slowly, very, very slowly Harry opened his eyes. He didn't expect to be able to see anything, as he knew his glasses had flown off his face at the moment of impact but he could see! He could see perfectly.

He looked straight ahead.

He looked straight into a mirror.

He looked into a simple, framed mirror not an ornate, freestanding mirror like the mirror of erised but a pretty ordinary looking mirror. In fact the only extraordinary thing about this mirror was that it was hung by four chains so that it hung its face to the floor, over to a large wooden table.

Bound to that table was….

Harry!

He was bound by stout leather straps round his forehead, throat, each wrist and each ankle. The worst one, however, was the strap around his chest. With each breath out it grew tighter and tighter until Harry could hardly draw breath at all.

Consequently the only thing that Harry could see was his own reflection.

The sight brought tears unbidden to his eyes.

His left sleeve had been cut away and there on the inside of his forearm, clear for all the world to see was….

THE DARK MARK!

………….

Harry's thoughts were in turmoil. The wizarding world already thought him a murderer and now everyone would believe he'd joined Voldemort.

He'd be better off dead.

Once before, in the Department of Mysteries, he'd hoped for death as a way out. Once again he wished for death's releast from his sea of troubles.

Something of his thoughts must have shown on his face.

A voice spoke aloud.

"You can't give up Harry! You're stronger than that!"

"Who's there?" Harry asked the disembodied voice. "Who are you? Show yourself!"

"Ssshh! Quiet or they'll be back!" the voice entreatied.

"Where am I?" Harry asked but in a much quieter tone.

"Where do you think you are?"

"I…. I don't know!"

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"Is this a new Death Eater interrogation technique? Ask questions but don't show your face?"

"What makes you think I have a face?"

This question completely stumped Harry. Mr. Weasley's words came to mind "Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brains."

"Pardon?" questioned the voice.

Harry hadn't realised that he had spoken out loud. "That's what my friend's Dad told me once."

"Very good advice it is too. I'd heed his words if I were you."

Harry stayed silent as he thought hard.

"Have you worked out who I am yet?"

At Harry's continued silence, the voice prompted.

In darkness I show nothing

To the puzzled I show everything

To the vain I show what's perfect

To the realist I show each defect

At dawn I show a new day

To a seeker I show the way

What am I?

Once again Harry thought "I wish Hermione was here, she's the one that good at puzzles! But then again I worked out the Sphinx's puzzle during the Triwizard Tournament." Out loud he said "May I hear the rhyme again please?"

After a second time of hearing Harry exclaimed "Got it! You're a mirror! But how….?"

"Have you never spoken to a mirror before Harry?"

"Well yes but I don't usually get much back in the way of conversation or sense. Usually mirrors just yell at me to comb my hair or tuck my shirt in."

"Perhaps you should try harder to talk to them and listen to what they can say."

"Well I'm listening now." Said Harry "Not that I have much choice do I.?"

"That's not very friendly!"

"Sorry, but I'm not feeling too friendly, or comfortable at the moment and you still haven't told me where I am."

"You are where you were."

"And that is where exactly?"

"That depends on where you are at!"

The frustration at not understanding the mirror's words and his continued discomfort lying on this hard table made him struggle and squirm against his restraings. He closed his eyes.

…………

Voices were coming as though from far away.

"We're losing him!" said the first female voice.

"Like hell we are!" came a second deeper male voice.

Harry had kept his eyes closed but now one eyelid after the other was forced open and a bright light shone straight in. He flinched and tried to turn his head away from the light and the pain. The torchlight was extinguished.

"Both pupils are equal and responsive." Came the first female voice again. "BP is 150 over 90. Heart rate 45."

Harry continued to struggle against the restraints. He had a blinding headache and a sharp pain at the back of his skull. He released his hands and laid them at his side. He could feel a padded surface beneath them but no sheet.

"Not the hospital wing then!" his confused mind decided. He slowly opened his eyes and saw a very blurry face smiling down at him.

The air smelled funny and Harry realised he was wearing an oxygen mask.

"Thought we were going to lose you there for a minute but I reckon you'll pull through now."

"Harry, don't waste your breath." At these words Harry took a sharp and painful breath in but the voice continued the words confusing Harry even more. "The chance is that he can't understand a word of English. None of the others could!"

"He may not understand the words but he may be able to understand the emotion and inflection behind them and know we mean him no harm." The voice continued in a calm and soothing tone.

"See, already he seems calmer. We only want to help you!" He was looking straight into Harry's eyes now and speaking clearly, enunciating each syllable as though he were simple or foreign.

"All your friends are OK. They only had a few scratches and bruises and will be fine once they get a square meal inside them."

Harry was even more puzzled at this. His friends? His friends were miles away, weren't they?

The other Harry, Harry 2?, went on soothingly. "The other men you were with? In the dockyard? The police have arrested them but they are all unharmed!"

"Don't waste your breath Harry. He obviously doesn't speak English.."

"Didn't the police get an interpreter?" asked Harry 2.

"One's supposed to be on their way, should be at A&E when we get there."

"OK. Anyway, we'll need plain chest films on arrival, CT chest and abdo as soon as possible, and bloods pronto."

The bumpy and noisy journey continued and Harry felt more pain as he was removed from the ambulance into the bright A&E department of the large local general hospital. The bright overhead fluorescent lights caused Harry to shut his eyes tight once more and to try and concentrate on the sounds around him. He found himself drifting in and out of consciousness.

He vaguely recalled being pushed on a trolley into a dimly lit room and experienced more sharp pain as x-ray films were taken. Then on to the CT exam. He didn't recall much after that until he heard Harry 2's voice calling "Have the blood esults come back yet?"

"Not yet"

Harry felt cold hands on his abdomen and ribs. He had a sudden urge to cough and the pain was excruciating. He could taste the coppery tang of blood in his mouth and felt sick. Each intake of breath made the pain worse, much worse.

"His left lung has collapsed. We'll need to get a chest drain in. Once that's done he'll breath easier."

The darkness claimed Harry once more.